Teen Pregnancy
by still burning bridges
Summary: In which Enjolras mistakes Gavroche for Eponine's son.


Éponine Thénardier's greatest fear was that one day their father would find them and want them back. Neither she nor little Gavroche would go willingly, but she knew the man had means, and that he had no qualms having them beaten into submission or killed should they continue to resist. It had been two years since she had escaped her family's grasp, and eight months since she'd rescued Gavroche as well. When she'd returned to retrieve Gavroche, she'd also had the intention of taking Azelma, but her younger sister refused, claiming to enjoy the way she lived.

So now, Éponine and Gavroche lived in a tiny shoe-box apartment above the cafe where Éponine worked - the rent was discounted because she worked at the coffee shop. Cafe Musain was small, quaint and little-known, and had a few regulars and a few tourists. The pay was low and the apartment was dirty and - most likely - structurally unsound, but, at least for now, they were safe. Gavroche went to school, and Éponine picked him up - except for when she couldn't.

She would forever be indebted to the Les Amis, a group of student activists who met at the cafe. She first met Marius on her first day in the cafe - before she'd rescued Gavroche, she'd been living on the streets, sleeping most of the time on the back doorsteps of local business. A couple would leave their dumpsters unlocked so that she could rummage through the garbage and eat whatever they had leftover. The ten months she'd spent living on the street, eating nothing but scraps, had left her incredibly skinny - you could practically count her ribs through her shirt most of the time. It hadn't improved much, either, as she gave all her food to Gavroche - she would die before she let that boy go hungry. She'd held off on getting Gavroche out until she had steady housing, which was why she had been elated when she struck up a deal with the owner of the cafe - if she worked for less, he would rent the apartment out to her at a discounted price. She'd gone to find Gavroche that night. On her first day at the cafe, she had just turned the sign on the door to read "OPEN," when a handsome man with freckles walked in looking flustered, and had ordered a caramel latte. Just as she had been handing the man his order, Gavroche came running from upstairs before screeching to a halt in front of Éponine, smiling brightly and telling her that he was off to school, before glancing suspiciously at her customer. "I don't know who you are," he began slowly, before shrugging. "Then again, I don't particularly care. If you hurt my sister, i'll gut you." Then he had promptly walked out of the cafe without another word, as if he'd never said anything out of the ordinary.

Éponine had panicked. "I'm so sorry, _monsieur," _she gasped, "that was my little brother - he's not normally like that - " (a total lie) " - please, forgive me, sir - " At which point, Marius cut her off.

"It's perfectly okay, _mademoiselle,_" he'd chuckled, grinning. "I was not offended. In fact, I found it rather endearing. My name is Marius Pontmercy, it's lovely to meet you. May I know you name, _s'il vous plait?_" (NOTE: My Marius flirts with everybody without even realizing it.) She fell just a little bit in love with him right then, but that's besides the point.

"Éponine - just Éponine. And I truly am sorry, _monsieur. _Gavroche sometimes doesn't know what is and what isn't appropriate to say to which people."

To this, Marius smiled even wider. "Of course, Éponine, I don't blame you - or the boy for that matter; again, it was kind of...adorable, to be honest."

Of course, she'd later met the rest of the Les Amis - Courfeyrac quickly became a sort of uncle figure to Gavroche, and had dedicated himself to picking up the young boy from school every afternoon bar Thursdays, when he had a class during Gav's dismissal from school.

On Thursdays, Joly picked up Gavroche, drove him back to the cafe, and ordered a coffee before heading home - or staying if it were a night for a meeting of the Les Amis. Joly was majoring in something medical - Éponine didn't remember exactly what - and was more than a little but of a hypochondriac, but he was a sweet man who always took care of Gavroche when he was sick - he'd offered to help Éponine out as well, but she'd refused firmly, telling him that she could take care of herself, thank you. Combeferre was a pre-med major, and a real sweetie. Grantaire was a great guy with a raging alcohol problem that everybody knew about but nobody commented on. When he was sober, he was a wonderful man. Unfortunately, it was a once in a blue moon event to encounter Grantaire sober. Jean Prouvaire was a hopeless romantic and within a week of knowing her had started kissing her and reciting poems at her, to which she laughed and applauded.

Eventually her love for Marius would die out after she became a messenger pigeon between the boy and his love interest, whom he'd only encountered once - however, they'd been dating for three months now, but as much as Éponine wished Marius could feel that way about her, there was no denying the chemistry between he and Cosette - and Éponine had found herself loving the girl despite herself; they were now very close friends.

The one Les Amis Éponine had yet to meet was Enjolras, whom the bulk of the group referred to as "Our Fearless Leader" or in Grantaire's case, "Our Fuckless Leader." (This, apparently, because A) Enjolras quite desperately needed to get laid and B)Enjolras gives roughly negative three fucks about everything but France and Patria and equality.)

So when the Jondrette Girl finally does meet this bourgeois boy, it's a Wednesday. At three fifty, Courfeyrac texted Éponine that he and Gavroche were going to see a movie and get a bite to eat, and that Gavroche would be home by seven at the latest.

It is now seven thirty six and Éponine is panicking. _What if dad attacked them? _She thinks. _What if they got into an accident? Shit, what if they're dead. _The though of either of them dead makes her sick, and she grips the counter until her knuckles turn white.

Nine minutes later, Gavroche and Courfeyrac come bursting through the door with grins splitting their faces, hair plastered to their foreheads by the sheeting rain, but otherwise uninjured.

Éponine's eyes widened and she froze for a split second before rushing forward to envelop Gavroche in her arms. "Where were you?" She practically sobbed. "I was so freaking _worried! _I thought - I thought that maybe our father, that he -" She took a shuddering breath pulling back to glare at him. "Don't you ever do that to me again, you little shit," she mumbled, hugging him against her one more time before releasing him.

"Courfeyrac, thank fuck you're okay. What _happened? _You said seven - I - I thought something had happened."

"The movie lasted longer than we expected, then there was traffic on the way back. My phone was dead so I couldn't text you. Shit, Ep, I'm so sorry." Courfeyrac replied, looking guilty.

"It's fine, Courf, i'm just happy you're both okay," she muttered.

Gavroche reached over and squeezed his sister's hand. "Hey, Eppy, you know i'll always come home. Who else is going to cut out the hearts of anybody who hurts you?"

Éponine just shakes her head and smiles. "I love you, Gav."

"I love you too."

A few hours later is her first interaction with Enjolras. Joly takes her arm and leads her to him, smiling. "Éponine, meet Enjolras our fearless leader," he says.

"It's nice to - GRANTAIRE! DO NOT GIVE GAVROCHE THAT ALCOHOL! _THAT IS NOT SOMETHING WE EVER DO! HE IS A CHILD! ARE YOU INSANE OR JUST THAT DRUNK WHAT THE FUCK? - _It's nice to meet you; I'm Éponine. I work here," she says.

Enjolras furrows his eyebrows, but nods. "I'm Enjolras. Did you know that while the local university offers couples housing, they do not offer it for same-sex couples? Also..." Éponine listens intently as Enjolras goes on a spiel about equality and human rights and Patria and red and black. She glances at the clock and swears.

"Shit, sorry to interrupt, I have to get Gavroche to bed." She quickly spots Gavroche in the crowd, laughing with Combeferre and Jehan.

"Gav, it's time for you to get up to bed, you have school tomorrow - you were sick last week, you can't afford to miss another day." Gavroche sighs, but knows there's no way to win the argument, so he quits before starting and trudges loudly up the stairs. "Sleep tight, babe!" She calls after him, smiling, before returning to Enjolras. "You were saying?"

Enjolras pauses for a moment, seeming to have a sort of internal conflict before nodding to himself. "So young Gavroche is your son? You must have had him at a young age - not that I'm judging you at all, I would just like to point out the importance of using contraception and participating in safe sex, especially at such a young age. I -" He stops when he sees Éponine's incredulous face.

"Enjolras, I didn't get pregnant when I was just a kid," she says slowly. "Gavroche is my little brother. He's twelve. I'm twenty, I would have had to have gotten pregnant when I was _nine years old._"

Enjolras' eyes are wide as saucers. "Oh, shit - ah, excuse my language. I'm sorry to have presumed anything - but if i may ask, if you're only twenty and he's only twelve, why is he living with you? Where are your parents?"

Éponine clenches her jaw and grinds her teeth together. "They kicked him out - not that I would trust my parents with him anyway. I had run away when I was seventeen, and as soon as I had a roof over my head and somewhat steady income I went and I got him. We haven't got much but he has new, clean clothes and he doesn't go hungry and isn't getting beaten every other day- which is more than i can say for either of us in my parents' care. So - yeah, my parents are out there. Somewhere. I don't particularly care where they live as long as they stay far away from my brother." It's only after she finishes that she realizes she's said too much. She doesn't bother apologizing.

Enjolras stares at her - at the fire in her eyes, at her determination to keep her brother safe. His own eyes are sad and angry for this girl, this lioness made of stars.

At the end of the night, once all of the Les Amis have said their goodbyes, she will find a crisp hundred dollars bill tucked behind the counter with a note.

_Take it. I don't need it. It's not charity - I'm guessing your pride wouldn't be able to take that. And if you ever want to talk...345-838-9351 - Enjolras_


End file.
